Special Collection:
Pollination Syndromes - Bat

Bat pollination (chiropterophily)

Bat-pollinated flowers tend to: be large and showy, white or light coloured, open at night and have strong odours. They are often large and bell-shaped. Bats drink the nectar, and these plants typically offer nectar for extended periods of time. Sight, smell, and echo-location are used to initially find the flowers, and excellent spatial memory is used to visit them repeatedly. In fact bats can identify nectar-producing flowers using echolocation, a talent that was only recently discovered. In the New World, bat pollinated flowers often have sulphur-scented compounds, but this does not carry to other parts of the world. Bat-pollinated plants have bigger pollen than their relatives.